Milan Lucic building up steam

LW gets back on his game

Steve ConroyMonday, May 02, 2011

Credit: Stuart Cahill

LUCIC: B’s winger better vs. Flyers.

PHILADELPHIA — For the sixth time in eight playoff games this year, Milan Lucic’s stat line read 0-0-0 on Saturday afternoon at Wells Fargo Center. But the big winger was hardly a zero in the Bruins’ 7-3 victory against the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinal series.

And as the B’s prepare for tonight’s Game 2 and what everyone suspects will be a more engaged Philadelphia team, there is some genuine optimism Lucic is ready to crank his game up to its usual playoff level.

“I think he was better,” coach Claude Julien said. “He was skating better and, though he didn’t get on the scoresheet, you look at what he did and what his line did, and they were good for us. At some point, you can’t keep hammering down on a player just because he’s not on the scoresheet. He did some good things, threw some body checks. He skated better and there was no doubt he was a good player for us.”

Lucic was pleased with his performance.

“I felt like last game was good,” Lucic said. “I felt like I was skating real well, even though I didn’t get a point, I don’t feel like it mattered. I was still getting in there and made some plays and started some plays that turned into goals. It’ll be nice, obviously, pop one here, hopefully soon, and gain some momentum from that.”

In the first-round series with Montreal, Lucic and linemates David Krejci and Nathan Horton were hounded by the Canadiens’ gnat-like forwards up front and the shutdown defense pair of Hal Gill and P.K. Subban. But Lucic, plus-3 in Game 1 against Philadelphia, felt his success had more to do with what he, Krejci and Horton were doing as opposed to what the Flyers weren’t doing.

“I think a big reason why our line was able to create space was because we were moving our feet and we were coming at them with a lot more speed and we weren’t trying to make moves,” Lucic said. “We were just going straight at them with a lot of speed. For myself, I thought it was my best game of the playoffs because I was moving my feet. And it was the best game for our line because we were playing with a lot of speed and we were bearing down on the chances when we got them.”

Some of the old snarl was back in Lucic’s game, too. He had a team-high four hits and eventually received a 10-minute misconduct that ended his afternoon with 4:31 left in the game when he took a swipe at Zac Rinaldo after the young Flyers forward got in his face. Earlier in the third period, the officials missed a high-sticking call on James van Riemsdyk, something Lucic wasn’t too happy about on the ice after being on the receiving end. But Lucic said the fact he popped Rinaldo had nothing to do with any frustration.

“A guy like that comes up and tries to start something, you’ve got to let him know, right?” Lucic said with a smile.

Tonight’s game should be interesting. The Bruins have a chance to get some gravy by going up 2-0 in the series and the Flyers surely will do everything in their power not to let that happen.

“We expect the Flyers to come out hard and they’re going to come at us,” Lucic said. “They showed all through last year and a lot through this year, especially in that Buffalo series (Philadelphia beat the Sabres in seven games in the first round), they’ve got a lot of fight in them. They’re not going to give up no matter what the circumstance is.”

After last year’s playoff loss to the Flyers, the B’s know that only too well.